Medical Examinations of Alleged Victimized Children - Dilemmas and Difficulties        

Nesia Lang

Children who experience sexual assault find it difficult to expose their injury for many reasons. After having been sexually assaulted or exposed, there are several factors that will influence their chances of being brought to a center for treatment of victims of sexual assault.

The existence of mechanisms of concealment in the family or in the closed community, the willingness of the family to turn to the welfare or to the police; the cooperation (or lack of it) of parents, educators or health and welfare professionals.

When children arrive to the Center for Treatment of victims of sexual assault, they bring along all the hardship they suffered from the family or community from which they arrived. Therefore the process of exposure of the secret and the examination of the child will be very complex.

It is necessary to build trust with the parents and the children prior to the examination. The all procedure must be explained to help them overcome the shame and embarrassment involved in getting undressed and permitting the examination of private parts of the body that have been assaulted, allowing recording legal documentation, conducting laboratory tests and taking samples.

A skilled and experienced team is needed to overcome these difficulties and enable a non-traumatic or even strengthening examination for future rehabilitation procedures.